Alabama Fans Are Obsessed

The Capstone Report apparently keeps tabs on everything Brian writes. They took a shot at him on one of his TSB posts because he made fun of USF, which, I'm pretty sure has nothing to do with Alabama. The reason he drew the ire of Alabama once again? Obviously, for criticizing USF for over signing.

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I like how the idiot that posted that compares USF to Tulane. Michigan is a top 30 school and admitted 40 percent in 2008. Using that logic Michigan is as good of a school as USF. The percent of applicants admitted doesn't mean anything.

I think we all know by now that people who don't actively like Michigan hate Michigan. It's been that way for at least 40 years and it will continue to be that way as long as Michigan is one of the best schools in the country. It's particularly prominent lately because of last year's football season; the football team is a traditional Big Ten power and is an athletic representative of the university to a lot of people who don't otherwise pay any heed to the school and its accomplishments. To these people, if the football team is vulnerable, they think the school is vulnerable.

I appreciate everyone's efforts to keep each other in check, but I would implore Michigan fans on this blog and elsewhere to keep our mouths shut when it comes to internet slapfights like this. Nobody will remember or care who wrote a better blog post in thirty years, but if you cure cancer or add an amendment to the Constitution or set foot on Mars, they sure as hell will.

I noticed a number of back-and-forth squawks on Brian's original TSB post. Why? What will that change? Does anyone really believe that he is capable of changing an anonymous sports fan's concrete opinion in 140 characters?

Brian does not need a digital army of supporters to justify his work, just as none of us need external approval to associate ourselves with the University of Michigan. I'm sure Brian did as much research and proofreading as he felt necessary before publishing his story.

Chrisgocomment: Thank you for bringing us this story and thank you for your continued excellence in the field of commenting. I would only recommend to all of us that we remain secure enough in our allegiance that we allow barbs such as these to pass through the channels of the internet without a characterless and debasing attempt at digital retribution.

I suppose I've never considered the sporting aspect of it. You, in particular, are a trustworthy guy when it comes to boundaries and knowing when an e-argument has gone too far; in your case, something like this recent Capstone Report post is nothing more than a good opportunity for harmless online sparring (at least I think--I don't want to put words in your mouth). It's the other people, the people who insist on creating ungodly 600-reply threads about an ultimately meaningless topic, that bother me.

And you're absolutely right about the fleeting nature of these things.

You are an evil, evil man Mr. Cook. You insult a poor, helpless directional Florida school with no thought to the numerous students and faculty whose feelings you destroyed. Didn't you see that other guy?! He has unrelated facts! He ran a magazine! It's guys like that who I trust to randomly write commentaries questioning your credibility because amongst the hundreds of posts that you've written you once wrote some piece about Alabama oversigning. My eyes have been opened

My favorite comment is the first one, by the WVU grad who is now a lawyer. Being a lawyer requires tons of reading. He says that Brian is stupid because he allegedly thought that USF was ranked behind Oregon St and Miss. St in the Tier 3 category.

Here's where it gets funny: Brian never said that. He just said that USF "idles amongst," not "ranks behind." Way to defend WVU's academic prestige, moron.

I actually searched "Brian Cook" in that website's archives, and there are a ton of these vitriolic rants about "evidence" and "journalistic responsibility" solely because the student/athletes that were kicked off the Alabama team never came forward to the press to defame the coach, as if it's that simple.